Kaw Valley Almanac

There are many species of goldenrod in Kansas, and all of them are godsends for the many bees, beetles, butterflies and other insect pollinators who visit their copious blossoms.

The American ground potato is a vine with edible tubers even more nutritious than the domesticated potato and was a staple food for many North American tribes. “Topeka” means “place where we dig potatoes” for the Kansa and Osage tribes.

American lotus, the largest flower in North America, is currently blooming on waterways in eastern portions of Kansas. In addition to having an edible tuber and seeds, its seed pod can enhance dried flower arrangements.

”One of my favorite memories from childhood is one I can renew almost every year: the Perseid Meteor Shower,” Ken Lassman writes in this week’s Kaw Valley Almanac.

“A snowberry clearwing moth landed on my leg while at the Prairie Park prairie, a timely reminder that this week is National Moth Week,” Ken Lassman writes.

“A snowberry clearwing moth landed on my leg while at the Prairie Park prairie, a timely reminder that this week is National Moth Week,” Ken Lassman writes.

Gray coneflower, Ratibida pinnata, is a long blooming native perennial whose name refers to the gray cone under the brown disk florets, here being visited by a bumblebee interested in their sweet nectar.

Here is a working dung beetle, pushing a large marble sized globe of dung with its hind legs to a patch of dirt, where it dug a hole and buried it.

Pollinators continue to carry pollen from flower to flower while being nourished by the nectar produced by the light eating plants in the win-win interdependence between, in this case, a bee and a butterfly milkweed.

This Snowberry clearwing, a member of the sphinx moth family, is attracted by the beautiful purple prairie clover flower found blooming in area prairies this time of year.

Monarda fistulosa, or beebalm, is a hardy, fragrant native wildflower loved by many pollinators, including this bumblebee.

There are many species of echinacea currently blooming across the state. In the east, the taller pallida species pictured here predominates. All are valued for their medicinal properties.

Put this on your bucket list: visit Ivan Boyd Prairie Preserve in June.

Look closely at the gnarly bark of this cottonwood and near the top you will see a 17 year cicada from Brood XIX, which extends into the eastern two columns of counties in Kansas, even though most maps don’t show them going this far west.

If you walk around a hackberry tree these days, listen and you will hear what sounds like a very light rain of sand dropping onto the leaves/ground … It’s poop from the hackberry butterfly caterpillar.